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USB killer

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This article is about the USB device. For computer software, see USBKill.

USB Killer, is a device appearing as a USB thumb drive that destroys the physical component of any hardware device that it is connected to.[1] It collects the power from the USB power source of the component it is connected to in its capacitors until it reaches a high voltage and then it discharges the high voltage onto the data pins. The device has been designed to test components for protection from power surges. However, the device has not generated much interest.[1] There are different models of the device, with the latest being USB Killer v3. The device has been developed by a Hong Kong based security hardware team for usage by System Administrators in testing devices against the very vulnerability that the team highlighted.[2] As per them Apple is the only manufacturer that protects its devices against USB Surge attacks. It has been alleged that the device has been developed by a Russian computer researcher who goes by the name Dark Purple[3]. Most often the device is mentioned in articles warning readers from plugging in unknown USB Drives.[4][1][3]

Potential Defenses

One author believes that the new cryptographic authentication protocol for USB-C authentication announced by the USB Implementers Forum would help to protect against this device by preventing unauthorized USB connections from being made. The developers of USB Killer believe that a component known as an optocoupler can protect against the device.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c "USB Killer: A device that can destroy a PC in seconds". DECCAN CHRONICLE. 2017-08-12.
  2. ^ Z. Morris, David (2017-08-12). "This USB Stick Will Instantly Destroy Your Computer". "fortune.com".
  3. ^ a b Bolton, Doug (2017-08-12). "Russian computer researcher creates a USB killer thumb drive that will fry your computer in seconds". "independent.co.uk".
  4. ^ a b Armasu, Lucian (2017-08-12). "'USB Killer 2.0' Shows That Most USB-Enabled Devices Are Vulnerable To Power Surge Attacks". "tomshardware.com".
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